


Trying Normal

by Call_It_Alba



Series: Daddy McG [4]
Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 21:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17649776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Call_It_Alba/pseuds/Call_It_Alba
Summary: Having only been home for a week McG and Top are trying to return to normal whilst McG is also trying to support his daughter who is still struggling in the aftermath of the school shooting.





	Trying Normal

**Trying Normal**

 

**_Billings, Montana, United States of America_ **

 

**_(1042 hours)_ **

 

A week after arriving home, Joseph ‘McG’ McGuire felt relieved to finally be able to be himself, which is how he found himself in his current situation. Adam had came up the day before but McG was determined that he would not fall into being a ‘lust filled teenager’ until he had finished his surprised for his daughter. Under normal circumstances the day after Adam arrived at the McGuire ranch, the two would spend the day getting rid of the demons from their last deployment. 

At the current moment in time McG and Adam were sat in the middle of a pile of wood and screws trying to figure out what Kenny-Jo need to get from the ‘treehouse on the ground’. It had been a suggestion from Jaz that they gave the fourteen year old a space where she could chill by herself. 

 

That suggestion had led to McG remembering how his daughter used to hide in the treehouse when she would get home from Ally’s. So he decided to build her another one that she could use until she could climb again. The major downside was that he couldn’t figure out how best to do so. 

 

“How did you do it the last time?” Adam asked whilst trying to hold back his laughter at McG tossing the claw hammer across the pile of wood surrounding them. “Are you honestly telling me that this is any different than last time?” he added before he finally gave into the laughter that was bubbling up. 

 

“Last time it took me and Hailey-Grace with a twelve pack and half a bottle of tequila,” McG spat out in fits of laughter before he and Adam fell back in their fits of laughter. Despite the fact that their normal activities were on the backburner and that they actually had to achieve something, they were at the very least having a laugh. 

 

**_Billings, Montana, United States of America_ **

 

**_(1134 hours)_ **

 

As Kenny-Jo looked around the classroom she finally figured out how to write the essay she had to present at the assembly. Which gave her an hour and a half to write it and get it marked. 

 

**I was asked to write about the day that I was shot. I tried but I just couldn’t. So I have decided to tell you about how I’ve dealt with the shooting. Because I doubt that anyone who was in any of the rooms that Mason entered have gotten over it simply because we’ve got to be back at school.**

 

**After I got out of the school I just wanted my dad but I was determined not to tell him. I didn’t want to worry him because he was deployed at the time. So I sat in hospital on my own with my grandma and Hailey-Grace visiting me when they weren’t busy…**

 

The fourteen year old kept writing without stopping until her teacher, Ms Blue, walked in looking for her essay an hour and a half later. Kenny-Jo was surprised that she’d managed to actually focus. Prior to the day she was shot Kenny-Jo was more than willing to just sit and study at school. 

 

She had been trying to get back to normal since Mason had out the bullet in her leg, but it didn’t help that Ally had been more sympathetic to Samara ‘Sam’ Eliot, her eldest sibling because of the fact that Mason was now in jail. In fact, Ally and her husband, Michael Eliot, had told Kenny-Jo that her having been shot had been her own fault. Apparently they hadn’t seen the need to check if she was okay following the news that the school attended by three of Ally’s children was the scene of a school shooting for three days. 

 

Under normal circumstances the young McGuire would ignore anything said by Ally and her family with Michael. But this time there was a knot in her stomach that had her questioning if they were right. Even now Kenny-Jo was still struggling to figure out if they were right or not. 

 

**_Billings, Montana, United States of America_ **

 

**_(1356 hours)_ **

 

Kenny-Jo felt beyond terrified and awkward as she walked into the hall where the assembly was being held. She couldn’t help but wonder if those who had been affected by the shooting would blame her like Ally clearly did. If she was honest then she would tell them that she had thought doing this was a bad idea and that she wished it could all be laid to rest. However, despite the pit in her stomach at the idea of being blamed she could see her dad, Adam, her grandma and Hailey-Grace sat smiling at her, and she knew that none of them blamed her. 

 

The hall was full of student’s, teachers and families. Apparently it seemed a good idea to hold an assembly for the students and their families. Kenny-Jo thought that it was stupid because clearly it wasn’t going to change anything. But, regardless of the fact that it was a waste of time in her opinion, she took her seat at the front of the hall next to the stage. 

 

The young teenager sat drifting in and out of her own world until she saw Ms Blue place a chair at the front of the stage for her to sit on before she was called up to read her essay. 

 

**_Billings, Montana, United States of America_ **

 

**_(1423 hours)_ **

 

Adam glanced over to see that McG had closed his eyes when Kenny-Jo’s name was called. He moved his hand over to McG’s and took ahold of it. 

 

“She’s tough, Joe,” Adam assured McG before they sat back and listened to Kenny-Jo. 

 

“My name is Kenny-Jo and I was asked to write about the day that I was shot. I tried, but I just couldn’t. So I have decided to tell you about how I’ve dealt with the shooting. Because I doubt that anyone who was in any of the rooms that Mason entered have gotten over it simply because we’ve got to be back at school. 

 

After I got out of the school I just wanted my dad but I was determined not to tell him. I didn’t want to worry him because he was deployed at the time. So I sat in hospital on my own with my grandma and Hailey-Grace visiting me when they weren’t busy. 

 

Now, this is going to sound as though I am lying. But, at the hospital I saw lots of people coming and going but mostly I saw parents coming to see their kids. My dad, he skyped me whenever he could but he also had to ensure that he was ready whenever they had to leave. So that meant that sometimes I only got to talk to him for a minute or so at a time. But I understood that, what I couldn’t understand was Ally. 

 

The first three days I spent in the hospital all I wanted was one of my parents. Seriously, I told my dad one hundred times that I was okay and he didn’t need to rotate out. But I kept waiting for Ally to come. Honestly, I could understand Ally not checking on me the day that Mason shot up this school; Mason was Sam’s boyfriend and she was bound to be upset, but when she did check to make sure I, her own flesh and blood, was still alive, she blamed me. I was told that Mason shooting me was my own fault. And to be perfectly honest I don’t know if it was my fault that Mason shot me or not. 

 

But I wasn’t dealing with it. I spoke to my dad or Adam everyday and I told them I was okay. In truth all I was focusing on was getting back to sports. Anyone who knows me knows I am a jock, any sports team I can be on, I am. 

 

That’s how I am dealing, I’m not. I focus on getting back to being a jock and being normal. I go to school, I go and read to the kids at the hospital and then I go home. 

 

I don’t know how or why it is expected that we are dealing with Mason’s actions. It is not something I can just get over and I doubt it is different for everyone else who witnessed what happened that day. 

 

Thank you for listening,” Kenny-Jo read out, her hands were shaking like a leaf on a tree during a windy day. During the whole thing she had never once looked towards where her dad, Adam, Hailey-Grace or her Grandma. The moment her eyes drifted over to her family and met the eyes of her father, he stood up and started making his way towards her as she began to shake and panic. 

 

McG had been expecting this to happen for days, knowing that his daughter was suffering emotionally and mentally in the aftermath, along with physically. Despite knowing this and having seen it whilst he was overseas it felt as though his heart was being pulled from his chest seeing it happen to his daughter. He caught sight of Ally and couldn’t help but shake his head; how could she ignore her daughter?

 

He gathered Kenny-Jo into his arms whilst the teacher he assumed was Ms Blue turned the audience’s attention away. He was grateful because he knew that he couldn’t make the teenager move just yet. 

 

“Hey baby-girl,” McG greeted his daughter before he picked up her crutches. “We’re gonna go now,” he told her, before he pulled her to her feet and made sure that she was standing. Kenny-Jo just nodded her consent that she was ready to go, ready to get away from the hell that was her life at school. 

 

**_Billings, Montana, United States of America_ **

 

**_(2349 hours)_ **

 

Both Adam and McG were once again arguing about their failure to build the treehouse for Kenny-Jo. It wasn’t the bad arguing but the type when you enjoy it and it leads to both parties doubled over laughing at it. 

 

McG firmly believed that they should do it the same way he and Hailey-Grace had; with the aid of tequila and beer. Meanwhile Adam was of the opinion that it would be safer for Kenny-Jo  and themselves if they were relatively sober. And if they were both honest they were just waiting to be told to grow up by Lindy McGuire. Afterall the teenager who they were building the treehouse on the floor for was asleep on the sofa opposite them. Both men had tried to move the youngster through to her room but she had awoken each time. 

 

Now Adam knew the man sat next to him better than anyone but that didn’t mean that he could figure out what the medic was thinking. He knew that something was bothering McG though; just he wasn’t sure what it was. 

 

“Right Joe, what’s going on?” Adam asked the younger man, his voice soft to prevent waking the youngster who they both just wished to protect. However, he knew he had to push McG so as to get answers and prevent him from going down the rabbit hole. That had happened once before, and it was better for all involved, but especially the father and daughter duo, if it didn’t happen again. 

 

“My daughter though she came second to my job, Adam. Even after she’d been caught in a school shooting and her own mother blamed her, she was adamant that she came second to my job. Am I really that shit of a father?” McG ranted, the guilt was clear in his tone of voice. It was something that he normally only heard when a mission went wrong and they lost an innocent bystander, victim or team member. 

 

“Dad, it was only because I wanted to make sure that Adam came home too. You are both important and need each other,” Kenny-Jo said softly before she stood up and crossed the room to sit between her dad and Adam. “I love you,” she added before she cuddled into her dad's side. 

 

Maybe this was just their new version of normal. 


End file.
